It’s also critical to have robots that can assist in times of disaster — they are powerful, efficient and can save the lives of rescuers who would otherwise be at risk. An example is the Atlas robot, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and announced in 2013.

But it is also obvious that in the wrong hands, these kinds of weapons can easily be used against citizens.

If the government has these weapons which can be turned upon the people, the people must have a means of self-defense.

Obviously there is no way to provide literal arms to the people equivalent to government power.

But it is possible to address the pressing issue of government abuse of power through the use of machines. This is not the technocracy of Silicon Valley but rather the Enemy of the State scenario. Or even, as some speculate, the deliberate destruction of democracy under the belief that the technologically literate are superior.

A “soft” risk is that humans will become dependent on machines for everything from identity to companionship to actual cognition.

How do you authenticate your identity? Google, Facebook, Amazon.

How do you connect? Facebook, Twitter.

How do you learn? “Google” it.

“Freemium” is the classic marketing technique where you give it away to create dependence, much like selling illicit drugs. Think of iPads in kindergarten.

The (perhaps unanticipated) problem with machines becoming smart is that humans become correspondingly dumb, because of “distributed thinking.” Basically, we shut off part of our brains because we don’t need to make the effort anymore.

What happens when bad people are in charge of the technology that guides everything from education to entertainment? When they censor a wide range of opinions, leaving only a choice between vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream?

What happens when the computers are loaded up with “data” — socially constructed — that you use to make decisions about other things besides fighting an adversary? What is the difference between “education” and “advocacy?”